"Does the MOB have any idea what topics are covered in that counseling?"

Maybe I'm missing something, but since we're discussing pre-marriage counseling I assumed it would be the priest getting a feel for whether they were both prepared and willing to be married, not any sort of "how-to" for married life. While it's not something I'd expect a parent to be involved in, it never struck me that they'd cover something in pre-wedding counseling that would necessarily be extremely intimate.

Virg

Well, when I went through pre-wedding counseling as a 21-yo we talked about sex. When I went through pre-wedding counseling as a 38-yo (this time I actually got married) we didn't.

Once, back when I worked in an office, there was a report I had to get out but I kept getting interrupted. So I posted a sign outside my cubicle: Please do not disturb. Working on X report. Bother me at your peril." Worked very well - I got the report finished and submitted on time.

I once worked somewhere I kept getting interrupted repeatedly at my desk when I was in the middle of a pile of work; mostly (like 90%), it was one colleague who kept bugging me to talk on and on about her relationship issues (the staff we supervised mostly left me alone). Finally, I went into my manager's office and put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. Well, it worked as far as the staff was concerned. My colleague, I assume, didn't think it meant her because she still came into the office to -- you guessed it -- talk about her stupid relationship problems. If I'd had a spine back then, I would've told her I put up the sign specifically for her.

Today is my birthday, and a co-worker brought me a small cake. I figured I'd share with my fellow administrative assistants, so we'd cut the cake and had put the lid back on, and it was on my desk.

A professor wandered through our office, said "Oh, hey, cake!", lifted the lid, cut two huge pieces and said "I'm not going to eat it, but I'll take my kids some.." and walked off.

We were all kind of speechless about it. This professor always does stuff like that. She will take half of a leftover pizza for her kids, big chunks of cake, cookies, and so on, all without asking or being invited to take any.

Well, it's all your fault!

Everyone knows you keep food UNDER the desk, not on top of it! Or in a file cabinet. Or in the store room where professors never go.

Seriously I think I'd have pushed her hand away and said "No, this is MY birthday cake! It's a gift to me and I'm going to take the rest home and eat it myself!"

Would it have been impolite to stop her (or stop her during future incidents) and say, "Hey, is this for you because it's really only for the people in this office?" or to say, "Oh, this is just for Coworker1 and Coworker2 and me; we pooled our money to buy ourselves a pizza today."

A bunch of coworkers, two years ago, decided we needed a bottled water dispenser in our office. Anyone in the office could participate but have to pay a monthly cost. One of them twice caught residents (who work in another office down the hall but have the key to our office) taking water from the dispenser and told them, "You can't have this; it's paid for by the people in this office" (I assume no one else has been caught but since the residents also work weekends, they might be sneaking in when our office is closed and helping themselves). Another time, one of those same residents, when one of the supervisors was working over the weekend and had gotten a pizza for himself and another supervisor, walked right up to the pizza (in front of the first supervisor), took a piece then said, "Hey, GirlfriendResident is also working this weekend; may I take her some?" FirstSupervisor was peeved and said, "First, no; secondly, that pizza is specifically for SecondSupervisor and me, for which you didn't ask, so you owe me ______ next time around" (FirstSupervisor isn't afraid to speak his mind often). Resident was a little shocked (he had a few entitlement issues during his residency but now, as a regular employee, I think he's gotten off his high horse and become a normal person).

Some BG: We were expecting a package of tea today, so we were keeping an ear out on the door to make sure it arrived. We also have a sign saying No Soliciting, at an adult's face level, in big, red, letters, that we made ourselves. We print a new one out after every few months or windstorm.

Doorbell rang this morning, open it up. We're greeted by a religious group well-known for their door-to-doorsmanship. My mum points out the no soliciting sign, and we get, "But we're not soliciting, we're spreading the message of God!"

I... don't... even...

*rolls eyes*

Makes me glad I am Catholic, and most Catholics do not go spreading their religion in the way certain other groups do that I know about at this time. I am not putting down those groups that go out and spread their word to get converts etc though but please use some common sense & have some manners if someone does not want to be bothered.

I hate when these groups come to the door also (and salespeople) so I just don't answer the door unless I'm expecting someone. DH, OTOH, always runs to answer the door or the phone ("What if it's an emergency?" he says). Anyway, he answered the door once, and it was a proselytizer who he was politely trying to turn away and wouldn't go away. Finally, I yelled out, "Tell her we're Catholic!" DH said my disembodied shout visibly startled her, DH then said, "Sorry, but we're Catholic" and the woman finally simply handed him one of her stupid pamphlets and left (which DH promptly threw out).

Her belly button had finally healed completely closed and I was giving her her very first ever 'submersion' bath (in a little tub with water). The doorbell rang once. I wasn't expecting anyone, so I ignored it.

Then it rang again, much more urgently. Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong! Followed immediately by repeated loud knocks on the door.

I thought surely it must be an emergency situation with one of my neighbors or something so I quickly rinsed off baby and wrapped her in a towel and answered the door. It was two women doing the religion thing.

Why do people think it's okay to bang knock on someone's door like that when it's not an emergency and the person isn't hard of hearing?

Someone once banged on DH's door while I was sitting next to it. It was a BANG-BANG-BANG as if the person were trying to break down the door. DH was in the (bad) habit of opening the door without first asking who is there. I got an immediate bad vibe upon hearing that knock and asked DH to first ask who's at the door and, specifically, not to just open it. DH did, and the male voice of a stranger said he was selling something. Again, I asked DH not to open the door, and DH told the guy, through the locked door, that he wasn't interested. After the guy walked away, DH told me he saw how shaken I was from the knock, and I told DH that I had this immediate bad feeling like the guy would've tried an in-home invasion (DH's apartment was right off the street near an area frequented by not-so-good types). I listened for the guy knocking at anyone else's door, which he did not do, which made me even more suspicious that this was not a good person.

Reminds me that, a few weeks ago, DH was home sick when he also heard insistent knocking on our front door and repeated ringing of the doorbell. He got up to answer, finally, because he thought it was urgent. He said it was some girl, who looked around 15-16 years old, asking if "Laura" still lives here. DH told her no, and she went away (this house was vacant for over a year before we bought it). We don't live in the best area so my theory is, again, she was "testing" to see if the house were empty (can you tell I really don't trust people?).

Oh, and to add a SS story:

The woman who sang at our wedding ceremony takes that title. DH has a couple of friends who are the music accompaniment at our church, but they are not Catholic and are devout followers of their branch of Christianity. I don't have a problem with them not being Catholic, but I do believe that everyone participating in the Mass should be a part of that religion (I only voice that to DH though).

Anyway, DH and I need to hire someone to perform at our wedding so we agree upon this couple (my preference is someone Catholic but DH's preference is this couple, so I agree). Turns out this was a horrible idea.

MalePerformer is fine and presents no problem. SSFemalePerformer decides that this is her perfect chance to put her religious branding on our wedding. When I veto her choices, she tells DH that I have "strong opinions" (I guess I'm supposed to just accept what SSFemalePerformer suggests and say nothing). She was causing a lot of unnecessary stress to DH and me by being so contrary (we weren't selecting any inappropriate secular music; we were just selecting music that wasn't HER choice). The final straw came when I selected a CATHOLIC hymn that not only popped up on a list of acceptable Catholic hymns for weddings but also is in our missalette (so it's not like she wouldn't have had access to the words or music or never seen the song before). She argued with DH on this one stating she wanted a different hymn sung (a hymn that had meaning for HER because of her religious views but that is not Catholic). She was being pretty difficult on this. DH and I, as a last resort, contacted a friend who's also a wedding guest (but who used to perform a cantor for weddings); Friend said she'd be happy to step in if necessary (so, yes, right before our wedding, we were getting ready to fire our music accompaniment). A week before our wedding rehearsal (so, a few days after the unfortunate exchange with SSFemalePerformer), she finally backed down and said our music choices were fine.

It's been over three months, and I still want nothing more to do with SSFemalePerformer. I can't believe she caused us all this unnecessary and unwelcome stress just because she saw our wedding as an opportunity to further her religious agenda. I've told DH that this choice is the one thing I'd do over again and that if anyone were to ask me for a music accompaniment in the future for a Catholic wedding, I would never recommend SSFemalePerformer (and I'd explain why).

I had just a SUPER special snowflake this week; I think I talked to him three times total over the course of five days.

First time he calls in, I answer his questions and then, as we are supposed to, I ask if there's anything else I can help him with. He starts off on a long rant/monologue about getting new inserts for his shoes. I remind him that I work in X Department of my company and wouldn't have any information about that. He probably wants to try Y Department, who might have access to his medical records and be able to help him with getting his request processed. In the most condescending voice you can imagine, he says, "Wait! Aren't I talking to a representative of *Company*?" I inform him, "I work for X Department of Company, yes". In the same condescending voice he says, "And you're sitting at a computer with a monitor and access to the Internet, right?" I indicate my computer does indeed have a monitor. "So why aren't you helping me? You asked if there was anything else you could help me with. I need help with getting new inserts. What's the problem here?" In the nicest tone I could muster, I informed him that I had no access to the records and information he's talking about, because I don't work in that area, and information is on a need to know basis. He doesn't believe me. I repeat again that it's not that I don't want to help him, it's that I can't. I can get him over to Y Department, and they might be able to give him more information. I don't have that information and have no way of getting it. He finally backs down, grumbling about how Company is terrible and never wants to help anyone.

He called me back twice more throughout the week. Every time I talked to him, he brought up the *mumblemumble* inserts. And asked for help. And sounded astounded that I couldn't help him with that. The last time, he told me nastily that, if I can't help him with what he wants, I shouldn't ask if there's anything else I can help him with, because obviously I'm lying and can't help him at all. At the end of that call, I ask if there's anything regarding X Department that I can help him with. He cursed at me and hung up.

For my job, I often send out faxes to doctor's offices requesting records on a person I'm working with. I only request the information specific to my needs, and my faxes are clearly identified as coming from my company. The request has my first name, last initial, address, phone number and fax number on it, as well as my company's logo and name. It's pretty obvious where I work. So, one day, I send a fax to a particular doctor's office requesting information. I get the information back a couple of days later with a incredibly nasty note attached. The note calls me unprofessional for not including my full last name and says I'm engaging in illegal activities as Law1 says I have to clearly identify myself. I'm actually not bound by Law1, but by Law2, and Law2 has nothing to say about identification. In any case, we've had incidents of stalking in the past, so we don't put our last names on anything.

Early this week, I have to fax this doctor's office for updated ifnormation. I do so, and add a note saying we don't give out last names, I hope you understand. The doctor personally calls me and leaves me a screaming voicemail about how terrible I am, how unprofessional I am, I'm lying, etc etc etc. I also get a fax back saying he will not provide any information unless I give him my full last name. I called my client and explained to him that the doctor won't provide us with additional information, so it's now on him to get that information. About an hour later, the doctor calls and almost makes one of my coworkers cry with how he talks to her. So my supervisor gets involved. She calls out to the doctor and informs him that I'm following procedure, I will not be giving him my last name, and if he won't provide the information to us then it's the client who will suffer as a result. The doctor calls everyone involved a liar, including me, my supervisor and my coworker. My supervisor finally asks if he'll send the information to her, as she is willing to give her last name. Doctor agrees, and ask for her name. My supervisor sweetly gives him her very long, very Dutch last name and thanks him for his help. I can't help but think he has lots of time to call and harass us because he has no other clients due to his mannerisms.

For my job, I often send out faxes to doctor's offices requesting records on a person I'm working with. I only request the information specific to my needs, and my faxes are clearly identified as coming from my company. The request has my first name, last initial, address, phone number and fax number on it, as well as my company's logo and name. It's pretty obvious where I work. So, one day, I send a fax to a particular doctor's office requesting information. I get the information back a couple of days later with a incredibly nasty note attached. The note calls me unprofessional for not including my full last name and says I'm engaging in illegal activities as Law1 says I have to clearly identify myself. I'm actually not bound by Law1, but by Law2, and Law2 has nothing to say about identification. In any case, we've had incidents of stalking in the past, so we don't put our last names on anything.

If they truly believe that you are breaking the law, why did they send you the information?

Housemate and I went to the local pub for dinner - a fairly regular ritual.

There was a family table near us - parents, 3 kids aged approx 5-8 and an older woman. There were no problems until I was midway through my meal, when the older woman, our SS, (I'm assuming grandma but I could be wrong) started stirring the kids up.

One of the girls had the most incredibly piercing shriek I have ever heard! And the area we were sitting in has one glass wall, so there was a fair bit of reverb happening too.

Every time she shrieked, Housemate visibly jumped, and I tensed. It was unpleasant. Dad noticed, and repeatedly told the kids to settle down. But SS Grandma just ignored him, and kept on winding the kids up, so the shrieks got louder and more frequent.

Housemate had finished eating (I hadn't), so we left very abruptly after one incredibly prolonged and piercing scream. We weren't the only ones. And SS Grandma was still going.

Anyway, he answered the door once, and it was a proselytizer who he was politely trying to turn away and wouldn't go away. Finally, I yelled out, "Tell her we're Catholic!" DH said my disembodied shout visibly startled her, DH then said, "Sorry, but we're Catholic" and the woman finally simply handed him one of her stupid pamphlets and left (which DH promptly threw out).

I read the bolded as 'prost itute' and could not figure out why she had pamphlets.

Heehee...today I benefitted from someone's MIL being a SS. One of the women at church, during the luncheon afterwards, said to me as I was getting food, "I got some clothes for my MIL on sale at Coldwater Creek, but she's really hard to please. She's about your size, and if you don't like them, just pass them on to someone else, I won't be offended."

Well she had the clothes with her and from the complaints she told me her MIL made, it sounded like she was just making things up to refuse the clothes. Like one blouse was "too revealing" because the "neckline was too low." I haven't tried it on but it can't be much lower than my collarbone.

But hey, I got some cute clothes so I'm glad her MIL's picky, and they fit nicely! Not to mention I wouldn't normally be able to afford Coldwater Creek.

Yesterday there was a SS spoiled kid when I went to go get my haircut. He was there with his sister and Nana and when she kept telling him "No, I'm not buying you an iPad." he got real surly with her. I guess he was between 8-10 and it was one of those times you tend to think "Boy, if you were my kid..."

Logged

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. -Desiderata

Anyway, he answered the door once, and it was a proselytizer who he was politely trying to turn away and wouldn't go away. Finally, I yelled out, "Tell her we're Catholic!" DH said my disembodied shout visibly startled her, DH then said, "Sorry, but we're Catholic" and the woman finally simply handed him one of her stupid pamphlets and left (which DH promptly threw out).

I read the bolded as 'prost itute' and could not figure out why she had pamphlets.

Who knows where they lived? In Vegas, I'm told they have pamplets. With coupons, even.

Anyway, he answered the door once, and it was a proselytizer who he was politely trying to turn away and wouldn't go away. Finally, I yelled out, "Tell her we're Catholic!" DH said my disembodied shout visibly startled her, DH then said, "Sorry, but we're Catholic" and the woman finally simply handed him one of her stupid pamphlets and left (which DH promptly threw out).

I read the bolded as 'prost itute' and could not figure out why she had pamphlets.

Who knows where they lived? In Vegas, I'm told they have pamplets. With coupons, even.